Innsbruck, Austria, November 5, 2013. On Tuesday Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK showed some of their best Volleyball and though the fans in attendance at the Olympic stadium were almost standing on their feet, the home side eventually lost their game with Turkey’s Halkbank ANKARA in straight sets (19-25, 22-25, and 21-25). The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium that was visited also by the mayor of Innsbruck, Christine Oppitz Plörer, was already great a way before the start of the match, since many supporters of TRENTINO had found their way to Innsbruck to welcome their former stars playing this year for the likes of ANKARA. They were already waiting for their past and present heroes – Matey Kaziyski, Raphael Vieira de Oliveira, and Osmany Juantorena (pictured) – in front of the lockers.

After a close start where both teams were scoring head to head, ANKARA had a good run in their blocking game resulting in a 14:9 and 16:11 lead. After that short positive streak for their opponents, Hypo Tirol was able again to create more pressure with their serving fighting point for point with the Turkish team. At the end Halkbank kept the lead and took the first set 25-19.

The Tyroleans showed a lot of heart and a good performance, keeping the rallies open for most of the set. The second set started with a series of three blocks by ANKARA and home mentor Stefan Chrtiansky asked for his first time-out at the score of 3:6. After that the Tyroleans started to play their best Volleyball showing great efficacy in attack and slowing down the offense of Halkbank with good blocking. The crowd was getting more and more excited showing the appreciation for the performance of both teams. When Hypo Tirol scored a point to come as close as possible at 22:23 the whole crowd got off their seats cheering for the home side. Two points in a row nevertheless sealed the set for the guests at 22-25.

The game stayed close also in set 3, where Lorenz Koraimann was playing instead of Jimmy Jimenez for Hypo Tirol and the first technical time-out was called at 7:8. At the score of 7:11 Stefan Chrtiansky sent setter Alexander Tusch on the court to replace Tamas Kaszap. Still the home side was trailing 11:16 at the second technical time-out, and even though the Tyroleans kept playing well ANKARA was able to hold on to the lead. Hypo Tirol kept pushing though and forced Halkbank head coach Radostin Stoytchev to take his first time-out as they had cut the deficit to three points (15:18). Lorenz Koraimann closed off a fantastic rally with a great spike and made the score 18:19 as the hall was shaking. At the score of 21:23 Stefan Chrtiansky used his final time-out of this set. At the end Halkbank could cash their first match ball to finish it off at 21-25 and take their third win in the competition as well as another three points to top the charts in Pool F with nine.

Home mentor Stefan Chrtiansky said after the game: “I have to say that we played a good game and improved our performance again in comparison to our previous matches. Unfortunately we were not able to get something out of it especially in game 2 and 3, where at the end maybe we got a little nervous. But we showed some great actions and were also able to show solid reception against some of the best servers in the world. Our guys did a great job tonight and showed lots of character.”

Halkbank head coach Radostin Stoytchev added: “For us it is a difficult period right now with a lot of travelling and almost no time to practice. For this I am satisfied with the result and if we have more time to practice our performance will also improve.”